Online Public Relations Thoughts

Daily entries on Public Relations and communications ideas and trends

Monday, December 17, 2007

Lost the Battle?

Hasn't one already lost a battle when that person has to prove he or she is likeableafter meeting voters for months? What has that candidate been doing on the campaign trail? This seems to be another example of over-control on the political circuit. In an effort to apply messages exactly, a candidate turns into a robot who falls back on approved points for every question asked. One of the roles of good PR is to show the person beneath the shell. Political managers seem to forget that with messages of the week, themes of the day, quotes of the hour.

I've known CEOs who could never bring themselves to get off message, and they turned off the media over time. Every question brought the same message points again and again. The media went from annoyance to saying there was nothing new. Think how poorly this works on the campaign trail where a candidate is in front of the media 15 or more hours a day.

Make time for people to breathe and be themselves. Some will be clumsy, some polished, but all will be more human than the quote machines that modern campaigning has produced.